I have been away from my blog lately, because sometimes life gets too complicated and causes one to not be able to think in a reasonable manner. However, so much is happening in our country right now, that I feel compelled to express my thoughts on the issues at hand.
Before I comment on those issues, I would like to tell you a little story about a dentist, William T.G. Morton (1819-1868). Morton, in the 1840's, began using inhaled ether on his patients in his dental practice. Prior to that time, extracting a bad tooth was horrendously painful. The patient screamed, moaned, and gripped the chair, while the dentist grabbed the offending tooth with a pair of pliers and twisted, pulled, and yanked until the tooth came out. People flocked to Morton and his new invention in droves to have painless extractions, and inhaled anesthesia was invented.
There was a glitch in this wonderful invention, however, and it was with the surgeons whom Morton approached with his invention to make surgery pain-free. The surgeons actually believed that screaming, writhing, and bellowing in pain while one's limb was being cut off, or one's appendix was being removed was the way it was supposed to be. Surgery always came with pain. That was the hard and fast rule. This is no joke, people! These doctors REALLY believed that! If you don't believe me, Google can help you out with this. It was quite a while before these doctors finally came to the realization that Morton's invention made their lives and the lives of patients easier when they were treated humanely with a few whiffs of ether before the mutilation began. Some people find it very difficult to let go of their archaic thinking, either out of stubbornness, ignorance, fear, or all three. Sad, don't you think?
On the subject of undocumented Mexicans, here's how I see it: In the mid to late 1800's, the US brought hundreds of thousands of Mexicans into the southwest to work on the cattle ranches and in the fields, harvesting fruits, etc. They were hard-working, and they were cheap labor. During the wars, they were sorely needed because American men were off fighting. Working in America became a way of life for Mexican immigrants. Today, it seems to have been built into their genes, and they just can't seem to stay away, no matter the cost.
In 1924, the Border Patrol was established, for one reason or another, and even though the public didn't see Mexicans as "illegal aliens," the law said they were fugitives. That did not stop farm and ranch owners from hiring them, or protecting them, however, because they kept the costs down, and gave the owners more profit. And don't kid yourself, they're still doing it.
The door closes, the door opens. In 1942, we were at war again, and Mexicans, illegal or otherwise, were once again needed. Whenever America let them, they came. And if it were not for those hard-working people, America would not be the most lush agricultural center it is today. If all of those workers leave America, and go back to Mexico, never to return, don't even think about buying all those fresh fruits and vegetables you enjoy. You will not be able to afford them unless you are part of the 1%.
Donald Trump has absolutely no class. Every time I hear him yelling about immigrants, rape, murder, etc., and see that silly comb-over flapping in the breeze, I get a little throw-up in my mouth. The problem is not with the undocumented Mexicans, the vast majority of whom are just trying to work hard and take care of their families, but with the wealthy, sociopathic drug-lords. Trump should be able to identify with them, because he most definitely is a sociopath as well. He will trample anyone to get what he wants.
In the case of gay marriage, here's how I see it: Our Founding Fathers came to this country searching for religious freedom. Anyone who believes otherwise is woefully ignorant. They did not come to America to insure that we lived in a "Christian nation." They gave us our Constitution. In that document, the only reference you will find to God, are in the words "In the year of our Lord," which was the accepted way of stating the date at that time. Most people haven't even read the Constitution, and merely take the word of some other person as to just what it says. Pretty lazy, I think. Read it yourself. I did.
Whenever anyone starts trying to explain the science of sexuality to the "conservative" element, they all stick their fingers in their ears and sing, "Lalalalalalalalala!!!!" at the top of their lungs. Why they choose to remain so ignorant is just beyond me.
Evangelicals are literally choking on their screams that homosexuality is a sin. They are quick to quote Leviticus, that old testament book of laws that supposedly God handed down to the Children of Israel. I am not one of the Children of Israel. I am not Jewish--I am Northern European and English/Irish. If the book of Leviticus ever applied to anyone, it definitely is not me. I eat bacon. I love shrimp. I wear poly/cotton blends, and I don't believe in stoning anyone for any reason. Not only that, the word homosexuality appears NO WHERE in either the old or the new testament, UNLESS someone has re-written the Bible to suit their own beliefs. If you have studied the Bible, you should know that re-writing it is a no-no.
To those Bible-thumping, mean-spirited, close-minded people who claim to be "Christians," how about following the teachings of Christ for a change. You remember him--that radical, socialist Jew, swarthy, with long hair and sandals, who said in John 8:15, "Ye judge of the flesh; I judge no man."
Before I jump into my final rant, I would like to give you a little background on the Pledge of Allegiance. It was written in 1892, by Francis Bellamy (1855-1931), who was a socialist minister. When I was a little girl, saying the Pledge every day in school, the words "under God" were not part of the Pledge. It was changed in 1954 at the urging of Dwight Eisenhower, who was president at that time. Bellamy's daughter was very much against the change.
As to the Confederate battle flag, here's how I see it: Segregation, rednecks, moonshine, KKK, ignorance, stupidity, arrogance, and hate. One would think that over the centuries, with all the advances in science, genetics, history, etc., that the human beings in this country could have reached a consensus that, as our Constitution reads, all men really ARE created equal. There is just no mystery about that.
Whew!!! This is the longest I have been at the computer in MONTHS! If you've a mind to, I would love to hear your views on these subjects.
This is actually a re-post, written when all of us were participating in AlphabeThursday. I really miss it!!
